Haunted Heroes - Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft

Prepare for horror with Haunted Heroes!

Thank you to Wizards of the Coast for sending this early review copy.

🍟🍟🍟 FryMinis 🍟🍟🍟

🎨🎨🎨 Artist Credit 🎨🎨🎨
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Orc Hero by Paul Scott Canavan
from Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft

Haunted Heroes - Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft

[FryMinis]

What kind of Haunted Hero would you want to play?

[jinxtheunluckypony]

I want to play an Armorer Artificer who’s constantly modifying their armor with the remains of fallen monsters. I’d want all of their infusions to be things they could link back to some kind of morbid modification they made to their suit. I want them to be one of the most terrifying people in Ravenloft. Unfortunately this idea straddles the line between scary thematic antihero and hardly tolerated villain so I’ll probably never get to actually play this character.

[rdLegionGaming]

Wow. This is probably a section that should be in every TTRPG, regardless of the campaigns tone. It's good for DMs and Players to communicate and cooperate together to build and play games.

[ruairiblake]

I always enjoy when they include advice in these books, especially advice that emphasises the player's role. I've heard too often (and seen) of players not meeting the DM halfway then called the DM bad because the players didn't have fun.

If there's one thing I wish they'd included it's "Don't optimise your character for combat". Horror works best when it strikes you in a blind spot, when you can't always just punch your way out. If I'm setting up an encounter with some big eldritch horror that's supposed to terrify the party, it completely ruins the tone if one member of the party built their paladin to deal 200 damage a turn. That's true in all games, but in horror it's antithetical to the entire experience.

[godofzombi]

How about tying your character's backstory to one of the Darklords? Now The downsides are that your DM has to set the adventure in the appropriate domain of dread, and if the entire group does it you'll end up with a party of Count Strahds second cousings (twice removed). But one of the players in our group is planning on running a paladin related to Elena Faith-hold. She's a darklord paladin who went a little bit overzealous and killed all the unbelievers causing her god to kick her out and she ended up in the mists. (Islands of Terror)

[ClassesandConstructs]

I absolutely love the "Habits of Horror Heroes" list. It's brilliant and very clear but it doesn't feel too didactic.

In terms of what type of hero I would build -- maybe a very superstitious wizard; the studious type but haunted by the memories of his mentor's death/disappearance.